Kubernetes Requirements

To enable your tenant users to deploy container applications, deploy a Kubernetes cluster.

App Launchpad supports Container Service Extension of VMware Cloud Director as well as Tanzu Kubernetes Grid.

To deploy container applications to a Tanzu Kubernetes Grid cluster, additional configuration is required. See the Prerequisites section in the Launch a Container Application topic.

The version of Container Service Extension that App Launchpad supports also depends on the VMware Cloud Director version that you run. To see the combinations of versions of VMware Cloud Director and Container Service Extension that App Launchpad supports, see https://vmware.github.io/container-service-extension/cse3_1/CSE31.html#cse31-compatibility-matrix and https://vmware.github.io/container-service-extension/cse3_0/CSE30.html#cse30-compatibility-matrix in the Container Service Extension (CSE) Documentation.

Install and configure the Container Service Extension with VMware Cloud Director before deploying App Launchpad.

If you deploy Container Service Extension after App Launchpad, you must manually add the Kubernetes related permissions to the App-Launchpad-Service role.

To use the Container Service Extension as an application deployment target, App Launchpad requires outbound access to the control plane node of each Kubernetes cluster that the Container Service Extension manages.

For information about installing and configuring the Container Service Extension, see https://vmware.github.io/container-service-extension/cse3_1/INTRO.html.

If you deploy the Kubernetes cluster behind an organization routed network, additional configuration is required. See the Prerequisites section in the Launch a Container Application topic.